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LuCE REPORT ON LUNG CANCER Challenges in lung cancer in Europe
November 2016
The LuCE Report on Lung Cancer is an initiative of Lung Cancer Europe to raise awareness
among health stakeholders on the main challenges in lung cancer in Europe. We, as patient
representatives, want to highlight in this Report our priorities, needs and proposals,
encouraging health authorities, health professionals, companies, patient organisations and the
society to implement solutions.
06 07
LuCE is the voice of lung cancer patients in Europe, while our aim is
also to ensure that the European health systems remain sustainable.
Thus, the fast access to lung cancer treatments already approved
in Europe is promoted, but also the need to have a sustainable
approach is taken into account. Having this in our mind, we have
tried to propose tailored solutions adapted to the needs and the
constraints of each country.
Early diagnosis and treatments are the key elements for a good
outcome, but we consider it crucial to invest more on prevention.
About 85% of lung cancer cases are related to tobacco use, so the
incidence of this disease would be drastically reduced through
effective primary prevention strategies. People in Europe are more
informed about the health risks connected with this addiction, but
one out of four adults still keeps smoking. All of us must cooperate
in order to reduce the number of smokers and promote a healthy
lifestyle, especially among teenagers and young people, and
even more in order to ensure an equitable access to innovative
treatments for all lung cancer patients.
LuCE is a non-profit organisation established in 2013. One of its
main objectives is facing all the challenges related to lung cancer
prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care, and promoting patient
involvement in these processes. We invite all of you to read the
report and join us in order to combine our effort. Thousands of
people in Europe are still waiting for support and they count on us
in this fight.
Many faces. One voice.
Working together to face challenges in lung cancer
Lung cancer is one of the major public health problems today and it
requires a global solution. From a patient perspective, unfortunately
the challenges and the needs in this area are still multiple and LuCE
(Lung Cancer Europe) and its members work daily to face them; we
are actively involved and committed to defending patients’ rights
and we aim at getting an early diagnosis and equal chances for the
best possible treatment. This is not an easy goal to achieve because
lung cancer is still considered the biggest cancer killer in Europe,
with more than 410,000 people diagnosed ever year (more than
312,000 in the European Union). A large portion of patients live with
comorbidities and their quality of life is deeply affected by the disease
and the side effects of the therapy; supportive care and educational
resources are essential and must be provided at the different stages
of their disease and adapted to patients’ and carers’ needs.
Diagnostic tools and therapies are more effective and safe
nowadays, and in recent years have improved patient quality
of life. New treatment options such as targeted therapies and
immunotherapy have changed the lung cancer scenario, bringing
new hope for patients. However, these advances are highly
expensive, and the costs and reimbursement represent a barrier
to the implementation of innovative treatments, and even more, a
barrier to patient access.
Unfortunately, not all the European health systems are capable of
adopting novel treatment strategies. The situation is heterogeneous
across Europe and causes persisting inequities, particularly in the
eastern part. Apart from inequalities, other factors affect this
situation and they have been considered and analyzed in this report.
Stefania Vallone President of Lung Cancer Europe (LuCE)
Table ofcontents
10 | The beginning of a new era for lung cancer patients
12 | Lung cancer numbers in Europe
Diagnosis and treatment: challenges from the patient perspective
33 | Beyond the disease: people living with lung cancer
37 | Call-to-Action. Let´s do it!
49 | About LuCE
46 | References
25
10 11
lived and the tumours re-emerge. More often, single-agent trials
involving targeted therapies administered to solid tumours result
in modest effects or no responses, even when confined to patients
who have mutations in the target oncogene. Clearly, there is much
yet to understand about in vivo tumour biology, and exploring
resistance mechanisms is essential to decide what combination
of drugs will treat resistant tumours, or even to prevent the
emergence of resistance.
We are at the beginning of a creative period of bottom-up
research activity, organized through pilot projects of increasing
scope and scale, from which best practices will progressively
emerge. Particularly given the size and diversity of healthcare
enterprises, a single approach to data gathering that will populate
the space is probably not appropriate for all contributors. As in any
initiative of this complexity, what will be needed is the right level
of coordination and encouragement of the many players who will
need to cooperate to create a higher level of biomedical knowledge.
In this patient-centred context, patients´ advocacies are and will
be every day more critical, from one side, in promoting the right
social pressure for the systematic implementation of the results of
preclinical and clinical research and, from the other, in developing
an ongoing and continuous discussion with the regulatory bodies
and national health care systems in the attempt to guarantee
to every patient drug accessibility, but also in helping national
authorities in maintaining the long-term financial sustainability of
healthcare systems.
The beginning of a new era for lung cancer patients
Nowadays, physicians are often making diagnoses using
symptoms-based disease archetypes, as opposed to underlying
pathophysiology. The growing concept of “precision medicine”
addresses this challenge by recognizing the vast yet fractured state
of biomedical data, and calls for a patient-centred view of data in
which molecular, clinical, and environmental measurements are
stored in large shareable databases. Such efforts have already
enabled large-scale knowledge advancement, but they also risk
enabling large-scale misuse. With the completion of the human
genome we understand that life is based on dynamic molecular
networks rather than on a direct connection between genotype
and phenotype.
The genomic revolution is still ongoing and represents an
unprecedented opportunity with regard to emerging cancer
diagnosis and therapies. Advances in genomic technologies have
made it possible to sequence candidate oncogenes in cancers
quickly and affordably, and gene expression profiling, full exome
and/or full genome sequencing characterize a reasonably wide
collection of tumours. Soon the numbers will be in the thousands.
These data provide critical information about the spectrum
and frequencies of mutations in cancers and will facilitate the
development of drugs against targets that are most frequently
mutated. Despite the early successes of targeted therapies, it is
also becoming evident that primary and acquired resistance will
be major limitations. Most solid and liquid tumours will not be
overcome by single-agent targeted therapies. Even in those cases
in which a single agent dissolves the tumour, the victory is short-
Giorgio Scagliotti University of Torino. Department of Oncology
12 13
LUNG CANCER NUMBERS IN EUROPE
Thousands of people are diagnosed with lung cancer every year. It is a disease with the highest mortality rate among all cancers, and one that produces serious morbidities that affect patients´ lives. This must change! Behind the statistics there are people just like you and me. Patients and caregivers who need solutions. Let´s join forces in daily work aimed at improving healthcare for lung cancer patients across Europe!
*This rate is a summary measure of the rate that a population would have if it had a standard age structure. It is necessary to use this rate to compare populations with different age-structures and time-periods. As cancer vary with age, countries with a relative high proportion of elderly people might have, proportionately, more cases.
Source: GLOBOCAN 2012
INCIDENCE
More than 312,000 people with lung
cancer every year in the EU
The highest age-standardized rates (ASR)* of lung cancer
incidence worldwide are found in North America and Europe1. In
the European Union, lung cancer is the fourth most commonly
diagnosed cancer, affecting more than 312,000 people every year.
Only breast, colorectum and prostate cancers present higher
incidence rates.
Cigarette smoking is the major cause of lung cancer2. Around
80-90% of all lung cancers are attributable to tobacco3, and we
must pay attention to the fact that one in four adults in Europe are
still smokers4. Smoking rates are declining, but it will take many
years until this decline translates into lower incidence rates5.
Smokers are 15-30 times more likely to have
lung cancer than non-smokers
Active cigarette smoking is the main risk factor, but lung cancer
has multifactorial causes. Around 10-25% of lung cancers
worldwide occur in never smokers and the incidence of this
disease among non-smokers is increasing in many countries6. Interactions between environmental, occupational and genetic
factors are also important causes of lung cancer3.
14 15
Lung cancer incidence in
men and women
In Europe, around 213,663 men and
98,982 women are diagnosed with
lung cancer every year. This makes
lung cancer the second and third most
commonly diagnosed cancer in men and
women, respectively.
Worldwide, men are more frequently
affected by lung cancer. However,
the gender gap is decreasing in most
European countries due to changes in
the last few decades in the pattern of
tobacco use2. Incidence rates of lung
cancer in women are lower, but are on
the rise in many countries7. In women,
the decline in smoking rates has been
less pronounced than in men, and some
regions, like Eastern Europe, have
experienced a net increase8.
Lung cancer is more frequent in men, but
the incidence is rising among women
The highest smoking rates among women are in Austria,
Bulgaria and Greece, but the risk of developing lung
cancer in women is still higher in northern countries. This
is probably due to the approximate 20-year lag existing
in the correlation between smoking prevalence rates and
lung cancer incidence. Today, the highest incidence rates
among women correspond to Denmark and the Netherlands
(4 in every 100 women will develop lung cancer in these
countries), followed by Ireland, United Kingdom and Norway
(3 out of 100).
16 17
Incidence of lung cancer in the EU countries*,
by age-standardized rate (world) in both
sexes
There are important differences in the lifetime risk of developing
this disease across different countries. For instance, around 3 out
of 100 men in Sweden, Cyprus, Finland and Malta will develop lung
cancer during their lives, while this number goes up to 9 in every
100 in Hungary, and to 7 in every 100 men in Poland, Belgium,
Croatia, Romania, Lithuania and Latvia3. The incidence rate in 23
European countries is higher than the worldwide average (23.1
per 100,000). Hungary has the highest incidence of lung cancer,
with an age-standardized rate of 51.6 per 100,000. This is more
than 20 points higher than the EU average, and 28 higher than
the worldwide rate. In the EU, Hungary is followed by Denmark,
Poland, the Netherlands and Belgium. These countries also
present high rates of incidence (over 36.0 per 100,000).
Considering absolute numbers, lung cancer is the highest cancer
incidence in four European countries (Greece, Hungary, Poland
and Romania) and the second highest in Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia
and Lithuania
Source: GLOBOCAN 2012
*EU-28 (+ Israel + Norway + Switzerland: included because they have patient member organisations of Lung Cancer Europe)
18 19
MORTALITY
The leading cause of cancer death
Lung cancer is the main cause of cancer deaths in the EU,
with 267,700 deaths recorded in 2012 and it accounts for
approximately 20% of all cancer deaths4. It represents an
average age-standardized rate of 24.7 deaths per 100,000
population, but this rate rises up to 37.7 among men. It is
responsible for nearly one in five cancer deaths worldwide7 and
is the leading cause of cancer death in all European countries
except in Portugal.
The main reason for this high mortality rate is the difficulty in
detecting lung cancer in its early stages. Lung cancers are usually
detected when the disease is in an advanced state, thus curative
treatments are not possible in up to 90% of the cases4.
Lung cancer is the first cause of cancer death for European
men and the third one among women. While mortality due to
lung cancer has decreased in males, it is still increasing among
females in many European countries9. As has happened with
the increase in incidence, the main reason behind the increase
in mortality rates among women seems to be the large number
of women who have engaged in smoking in recent decades.
-LUNG CANCER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR 1 IN 5 CANCER DEATHS-
Source: GLOBOCAN 2012
20 21
Mortality of lung cancer in the EU countries*,
by age-standardised rate (world) in both
sexes
Mortality rates vary significantly between different European
countries. Hungary is not only the top country in the EU in terms
of lung cancer incidence, but it also shows the highest mortality
rate of all European countries, with 43.3 deaths per 100,000. This
rate increases up to 66.6 among men. It is followed by Poland,
Denmark, Croatia, Netherlands and Belgium, with mortality
rates of over 30.0 per 100,000 (ASR). The lowest death rates are
observed in Sweden, Portugal, Malta and Cyprus.
Considering the age-standardized rate (world) in men and women,
results show disparities in mortality of lung cancer across Europe.
Countries from Eastern Europe have higher mortality rates in
men. There are 15 countries that have rates above the EU average,
of which 10 are from Eastern Europe.
On the other hand, the estimated age-standardized (world) of
deaths in females is higher in Northern Europe, with six northern
countries among the 12 with rates over the EU average.
*EU-28 (+ Israel + Norway + Switzerland: included because they have patient member organisations of Lung Cancer Europe)
Source: GLOBOCAN 2012
22 23
ASR (World) of deaths in males1 ASR (World) of deaths in females1
There are also socio-economic inequalities related to lung cancer
mortality that vary between nations3. For example, there is some
evidence that associates an increase in lung cancer mortality
with a decreasing educational level in the Northern Europe
and Continental populations, probably due to people being
employed in high-risk industries (such as exposure to asbestos).
This is in sharp contrast to Southern Europe, where mortality
increases with higher education among men. On the other hand, in
women from Eastern Europe, there is a differential impact at the
socio-economical level. While for young women, lower levels of
education correlate with higher mortality rates, the trend reverses
for women of advanced age. Older women tend to exhibit higher
mortality rates when they have higher educational levels. -THE BURDEN OF LUNG CANCER IN EUROPE
REMAINS LARGE TODAY AND IS LIKELY TO
REMAIN SO FOR SEVERAL DECADES-
SURVIVAL
Still a low survival rate
Lung cancer survival remains poor in Europe, although it is slightly
increasing due to advances in cancer management. The overall
5-year survival is around 13% since diagnosis10, and it decreases in
people with advanced ages at diagnosis. This rate is considerably
influenced by the stage of the disease at diagnosis, but there are
also variations depending on gender. Statistics show that women
worldwide have better survival rates than men across all ages2.
The 5-year survival rate is 11.2% for men, and 13.9% for women4.
On the other hand, in the EU, survival rates show little variation
regionally. Eight out of the ten countries with the highest
incidence rates are also among the 10 countries with the highest
mortality rates. Disparities in national resources allocated to
healthcare, early diagnosis and treatment have an impact on the
survival rates of different cancers. For lung cancer, probably
due to its low overall survival rate, these factors seem to have a
minor influence7.
It is not realistic to expect a decrease in incidence in the near
future; however, an improvement in survival rates has already
been seen and will continue to rise in countries with successful and
rapid implementation of novel treatment strategies.
25
DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT: CHALLENGES FROM THE PATIENT PERSPECTIVEIn lung cancer, time matters for patients. For a good prognosis we need early diagnosis and fast access to effective and safe treatments. The goal is to live longer, with a better quality of life than today
Early diagnosis is fundamental for a good
prognosis but it is not always possible, and
around 70% of patients are diagnosed at
an advanced or metastatic stage11. The
main reason for late diagnosis is that first
symptoms usually appear when the disease
has already spread to other parts of the
body, mainly bones, brain, liver, adrenal
glands, pleura and the other lung3. In the
cases where the disease causes symptoms
at the beginning, they are often associated
with some less serious causes, such as an
infection or effects from smoking.
Screening programs may help to detect
lung cancer in early stages and reduce the
mortality rate. However, more research
is needed to gather data about the
efficiency and cost-effectiveness of lung
cancer screening12. There are no screening
guidelines that provide a benchmark for
member states13. Such guidelines are
common practice in the US, and have also
been implemented in Europe for other
cancer types. Potential users could be the
population at high risk, like smokers, people
with lung disease and people with lung
cancer history in the family. Several lines of
research are trying to develop new methods
for the early detection of lung cancer.
-DIAGNOSTIC RESOURCES ARE NOT EQUAL ACROSS EUROPE, NOT EVEN WITHIN COUNTRIES-
26 27
Treatment should be discussed within a multidisciplinary team14
and must consider the type of tumour, the extension and stage
of the disease. The overall fitness of the patient, his or her needs
and preferences, and the existence of biological features (EGFR
gene mutation or ALK rearrangement) must also be considered.
All these parameters must be defined in an accurate diagnosis
process that includes clinical, radiological, histopathological
and cytological examination. An improvement in diagnosis
provides better preconditions for successful medical treatment,
but diagnostic resources are not equal across Europe, not even
within countries.
The landscape of lung cancer treatment is changing quickly.
There have been some progresses in surgery techniques,
radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which remain the standard
of care in many of the cases. However, lung cancer is no
longer considered a single disease, and there are multiple
combinations, depending on each individual case. Moreover,
thanks to the advances in our understanding of the biology and
molecular mechanism of lung cancer, new biological drugs have
appeared to bring new hope to patients. New targeted therapies
available for NSCLC patients with specific genetic mutations
are providing meaningful outcomes15. These treatments require
testing for the presence of ALK gene rearrangements and EGFR
gene mutations in the diagnosis process. This is now crucial for
metastatic lung cancer so we need more research to identify
molecular markers that can lead to progress in personalized
medicine.
-PERSONALIZED MEDICINE AND IMMUNOTHERAPY
HOLD A PROMISING ROLE IN THE TREATMENT OF
THE DISEASE, AND NOW MOLECULAR TESTING IS
BECOMING AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE CLINICAL
DECISION PROCESS-
New treatments, like molecular targeted therapy and
immunotherapy, are being increasingly used for lung cancer, and
there are prospects of forthcoming advances. However, there are
still important challenges related to these promising treatments:
1. Among patients, there are great expectations about new
therapies. They represent a first important step of a new
therapeutic approach and a significant number of patients
are accessing these treatments. However, we must consider
that most of patients do not have specific genetic mutations
expressed and they are not candidates for these targeted
therapies. We should manage the expectations around these
innovative drugs.
2. Lack of predictive markers. We need
to have the possibility to treat the right
patient with the right medicine in order to
save the patient from a non-optimal toxic
treatment.
3. Quality of life is an important issue for
patients, so we need to improve outcomes
in symptom relief. Even when the tolerance
to these new treatments is higher,
compared to conventional chemotherapy,
some side effects are still severe.
4. Tumours often acquire resistance
to targeted therapies. The therapies
work for a period of time and then
stop working. We must find out how to
solve this problem and offer effective
alternatives to patients.
5. Barriers in access to these new drugs are
producing inequalities in the EU. The high
price of these treatments is becoming
a major issue on the political agenda. In
addition, the access to novel therapies
in the frame of clinical trials seems to be
far from being optimal in numerous EU
countries, especially in smaller ones.
28 29
ACCESS TO INNOVATIVE
TREATMENTS. A PRIORITY FOR
PATIENTS
Recent research has produced new drugs approved by the
European Medicines Agency (EMA) for lung cancer patients,
especially at the advanced and metastatic stages. A new era
has started, with drugs tailored to target specific signaling
pathways, like the EGFR and ALK pathways. Erlotinib, gefitinib,
crizotinib, ceritinib, osimertinib and necitumumab have
proven useful in the management of patients in advanced
stages. Also, immuno-oncological therapies like nivolumab or
pembrolizumab have provided patients with more therapeutic
options.
However, there are unacceptable disparities in the accessibility
of these medicines across Europe. The high cost of some of
these treatments has produced sharp differences in the ability
of European patients to access these new treatments16-17. This
affordability problem has caused some health care systems to
be unable to reimburse all treatment options. New therapies
are often given along with conventional treatments, thus
considerably increasing the overall cost of treating patients. As
new therapies are expected to become available in forthcoming
years, combined treatment is likely to become the norm.
Increasing costs, therefore, might become a major challenge for
all health stakeholders in the near future.
-EXPENDITURE IS NOT ALWAYS LINKED TO OUTCOME, AND
CAREFUL PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT IS
NEEDED-
Access to treatments is related to individual countries´ economic
strength and the human development index19. The IHE Report
2016:4 highlighted some variations between national uptakes
of lung cancer drugs depending on their GDP/capital tier. For
instance, the uptakes of pemetrexed, crizotinib and gefitinib in
upper GDP/capita tier were more than double than in lower GPD/
capita tier in 2014.
However, there are also disparities among countries with a
similar economic level, which is probably explained by the
implementation of national policies aiming at evidence-based as
well as cost-effective care20. We must say that spending on cancer
is usually associated with higher survival rates, but this correlation
is lower in lung cancer5. As a consequence, we can find countries
with different levels of spending with, at the same time, similar
survival rates.
Time is another inequality factor for patients. 10 new drugs
for lung cancer have been approved between 1995 and 20155 but not all European patients have accessed them at the same
time. Once a cancer drug is authorized by EMA, it is supposed
to be implemented at a national level in 180 days. However, this
time can be considerably longer in many countries20. Delays to
implementation (reimbursement) of cancer medicines are more
pronounced in Eastern Europe.
Inequalities can also be found in the national treatment guidelines
of different European healthcare systems5. Although there are
3030
European guidelines for the treatment of the different types of
lung cancer, different views on best practices and budgetary
constraints at the national and regional level can produce
disparities in the recommended therapy. Tools like the ESMO
Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale (ESMO-MCBS) could help
EU countries to make priorities on evidence-based data. This
is a way to assess the magnitude of clinical benefit that can be
expected from a new cancer medicine and it helps to provide a
cost-effective and affordable cancer care, considering the limited
public resources21.
We should also consider potential inequalities in health
outcomes within countries, presented as the difference in health
status between socioeconomic groups, geographic location,
employment status, gender or ethnic groups. Interventions must
tackle the macroenvironmental factors and the physical and
social environment, as well as adverse health behaviours and
access to health care, but there are differences in national policy
approaches to health inequalities22. Inequalities in health care are
not only considered as regards diagnosis and treatment but also
in the general spectrum of health information/education, early
diagnosis, timely and adequate treatments, palliative care and
quality of care in general23
33
I wish I had pushed for more checks sooner,
or gone somewhere else for second opinions!
But I regret to say that I didn’t. I had been
getting continuous rib and back pain and
lung pain for over a year. My general doctor
had considered pneumonia, a bashed rib,
infection and asthma. When tests and X-rays
showed nothing, even psychosomatic pain
was considered.
The diagnosis was a real shock and it
happened so quickly. Whilst at work, I
got breathless and went to the hospital.
There, it was found that I had excessive
fluid on my lung. At this point I was happy,
because someone had spotted something
was actually wrong. After a basic biopsy
and a few days waiting, I was told that they
had picked up cancer cells in the lung, and
that also the fluid had malignant cells. My
symptoms did not appear previously as red
flags because I was only 45 and a non-
smoker. If I had been diagnosed earlier could
I have been caught before and got a better
prognosis? Who knows…
I was then referred to a surgeon. At all
appointments there has also been a
dedicated cancer nurse, who is there to
answer any questions. The surgeon advised
me that, according to the biopsy and CT scan,
I had Stage IV cancer and that I should get
my affairs in order. On asking the surgeon for
timescale, I was told 12 months! A procedure
called a pleurodesis was to be done and a
proper biopsy taken of the cancer.
When I got my first oncologist appointment,
my nurse was again present. This was the
start of dealing with people that are helping
me a lot in my journey. She emailed me with
a full breakdown of my diagnosis with clear
information about my treatment. This extra
communication was important because you
don’t always hear what you are being told at
consultations. The biopsy found that, despite
being Stage IV, there is a genetic mutation
and I can get great treatment results from
a biological therapy that may extend my
prognosis by an average of 11 months. As I
am writing this testimony, I am beating that
figure by more than double: it has been 26
months since I started the treatment. My
doctor, who is always positive, says some of
her patients have been on this drug for years.
Information from reliable sources and
communication with my oncologist are
helping me a lot in facing the disease. She
keeps me informed about what drug they will
consider when this one stops working due
to resistance. And she also tells me about
new treatments that I am not going to use
because they would not work due to my
specific cancer type. I am confident in my
team: a team that includes family and work.
I hope my story can give others hope that
diagnosis is not the end!
Tom Simpson Lung cancer patient
BEYOND THE DISEASE: PEOPLE LIVING WITH LUNG CANCER
This is only one personal story but we must
remember that behind every number,
behind every diagnosis, there are real
people like Tom. People whose lives and
the life of their relatives changed after
diagnosis. There are thousands of ´Toms´
who are facing the disease and deserve
the most effective, safe and human health
care. Thanks to advances in diagnosis
and treatment, and the support of health
professionals and other stakeholders like
patient organisations, lung cancer patients
face the difficulties of the disease with more
hope and resources.
Quality of life matters. Thus, we must
offer a multi-disciplinary health assistance
to patients and caregivers for a better
management of the disease and a better
wellbeing.
Lung cancer is associated with high
associated co-morbidity, which
considerably reduces a patient´s quality of
life24. Information and access to a multi-
disciplinary health team and support from
patient organisations are key elements to
get a better quality of life. We need accurate
information and continued support services
along the disease process to know how
to manage side effects and symptoms. A
facilitator or a navigator is also important,
bering in mind the proper outcome of the
treatment, helping the patient to make his or
her way through the therapy.
Improving our lives requires a patient-centric
approach in healthcare. Patients must be
able to have access to treatments against
side effects, palliative services, rehabilitation
resources, and psychosocial support. For
these purposes, we need to retrieve more
information on the difficulties experienced
by patients living with the disease.
We must also pay attention to the wellbeing
of caregivers. Their lives also suffer
important changes after diagnosis, and
they often experience feelings of sadness,
anxiety, fear or ire. However, they usually
do not receive any support25. Health
professionals and patient organisations must
be aware about the impact of lung cancer
on relatives and caregivers, providing them
with personalized assistance to prevent and
reduce the negative consequences of the
disease.
It is also crucial to train the doctors on
how to talk to patients in such situations.
It is very important to be able to build an
open relationship between the patient
and the medical staff, which will affect
the effectiveness of the therapy and the
psychological health of the patient13.
-QUALITY OF LIFE MATTERS-
35
HOW CAN LUNG CANCER IMPACT ON OUR LIVES?
36 37
We, as patient organisation that represents the rights of
thousands of people affected by lung cancer, demand a
coordinated and sustainable action from all stakeholders
in healthcare in order to get patient-centred care. Health
professionals, European and national policy makers, health
economists, patient organisations, research centres,
pharmaceutical companies, media and society in general, must
work together to reduce the number of people diagnosed with
lung cancer and improve the health and wellbeing of today’s and
tomorrow’s lung cancer patients.
Wherever we are, and regardless of who we are, we all share
similar challenges and must find solutions together. These are not
easy challenges and they will probably require innovative solutions,
so it is important to exchange information and best practices
among the different countries as well as the different stakeholders.
-YOU CAN´T SPELL CHALLENGE WITHOUT CHANGE. LET´S LOOK
FOR NEW SOLUTIONS!-
CALL-TO-ACTION. LET´S DO IT!
• Provide quality smoking cessation services and support
• Promote smoking prevention policies such as advertising and marketing
bans for tobacco control or higher taxes
• Public and occupational health policies to reduce exposure to carcinogens
• Control measures to prevent air pollution
• Promote early palliative care resources
• Offer emotional and social support to patients and caregivers
• Access to rehabilitation services
• More accurate and comprehensive information for patients
• Provide a facilitator/coordinator of the treatment
• Link the prices of medicines to the health benefits they produce (added value for patients)
• Ensure a high level of expertise and knowledge in lung cancer care centres
• Harmonize HTA bodies to set equal decisions about the same medicine
• Promote the collection of systematic data on expenditures in cancer care
• Decentralized solutions and flexible payment procedures
• Higher investments in research for more effective and safer treatments
• Accelerate the referral from primary care to specialists
• Improve screening for people at high risk
• Raise awareness and education on the symptoms among the general
public
TOP-4 CHALLENGES
(AND SOME GLOBAL SOLUTIONS)
41
• Raise social awareness to prevent lung cancer and to fight against stigma caused by the disease
• Collect patient data to identify unmet needs
• Play a role in research, reimbursement and technology assessment processes, providing the patient
input into the clinical/economic recommendations
• Monitor the correct implementation of the EU cross-border healthcare directive to ensure access to
treatments
• Recognize the value of working at European level for policy changes
• Work with policy makers and other stakeholders continuously, throughout the year
• Improve advocacy skills to be an effective health stakeholder
• Promote patient engagement and involvement in advocacy
• Share best practices among patient organisations
WHAT CAN WE DO?
PREVENTION, EARLY DETECTION, EFFECTIVE TREATMENT AND CARE
LET´S DO IT!
PA
TIE
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• Further research about effective technologies on screening, diagnosis, treatment, care and
rehabilitation
• Closer collaboration between laboratory and the clinic, and between primary care and oncologists
• Improve the health education of the population, promoting healthy lifestyles, and allowing early
consultation with the GP at symptom onset.
• Provide smoking cessation interventions to patients who smoke
• Offer coordinated and multidisciplinary health assistance to patients (including early palliative care),
involving them in the decision-making process
• Develop guidelines on lung cancer care
• Report adverse drug reactions in order to identify outcomes in clinical practice
• Promote specialized nursing in lung cancer as a key source of support
• Develop a lung cancer care coordinator role for free flow of information between professionals,
patients and caregivers
• Harmonize treatment guidelines for lung cancer in different countries
• Promote effective smoking prevention policies and homogenize tobacco control legislation across Europe
• Ensure funds for research and innovation in the field of lung cancer
• Adopt effective screening programs for lung cancer
• Harmonize HTA approaches to close the gap in access
• Follow ESMO Score of clinical benefit when deciding on reimbursement policies
• Ensure transparent and regulated drug pricing and reimbursement, and get more collaboration among
nation states on price negotiations
• Shorten the time for new drugs to be introduced in member states
• Ensure the access of patients to clinical research across borders
• Improve and harmonize data collection for patients in Europe
• Involve patient organisations and health professionals in the decision-making process of new policies
• Ensure implementation of guidelines for lung cancer diagnosis and treatment
• Develop guidelines for best practise to be advised, in order to get implementation nationally in healthcare centres
• Stimulate the development and accreditation of centres specializing in lung cancer across Europe, to
create reference networks
• Develop uniform national cancer plans
HEA
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• Improve transparency about costs of research and development of new drugs
• Introduce new flexible payment procedures in pricing/reimbursement negotiations
• Set a new approach in pricing based on the assessment of added value and cost-effectiveness of
drugs for patients
• Implement effective procedures for post-market data collection
• Work with patient organisations to identify unmet needs to consider in research and to have the
patient perspective on the medicine development process
• Reduce the avoidable waste in the production and reporting of research evidence
PH
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46 47
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49
ABOUT LuCE
Lung Cancer Europe is the voice of lung cancer patients, their
families and survivors at a European level. LuCE provides a
European platform for already existing lung cancer patient
advocacy groups and supports the establishment of national lung
cancer patient groups in different European countries where such
groups do not yet exist.
LuCE aims to raise awareness about inequities regarding the
access to lung cancer treatment and care in Europe. Moreover,
it advocates European policies that will lead to improvements in
lung cancer prevention, early detection, treatment and care. LuCE
also supports national lung cancer patient groups in helping raise
awareness for lung cancer among the European public.
• Reduce the mortality of lung cancer.
• Promote the best possible treatment of the different types of
lung cancer.
• Equal access to lung cancer care throughout Europe.
• Raise public awareness for lung cancer about symptoms,
early detection and treatment.
• Reduce the stigma associated with lung cancer and more
compassion for lung cancer patients and their loved ones.
• Increase European funding allocated to lung cancer research.
Our objectives
50 51
About our members
LuCE gathers its strength from the combined action of different national patient organizations across Europe. These organizations give
support to lung cancer patients, defend their rights and represent their interests on an everyday basis. They are the voice of the patients
in national and international forums, and their work benefits society as a whole. We are stronger together, thus we thank each and every
one of the members of LuCE for their generous contribution.
We encourage readers to learn more about these organisations and support them.
Asociación Española de Afectados de Cáncer de Pulmón
www.aeacap.org
Forum Lungenkrebs Schweiz
www.forum-lungenkrebs.schweiz.ch
Stowarzyszenie Walki z Rakiem Pluca
www.rakpluca.org.pl www.rakpluca.szczecin.pl
Bundesverband Selbsthilfe Lungenkrebs e.V.
www.bundesverband-selbsthilfe-lungenkrebs.de
Women Against Lung Cancer in Europe
www.womenagainstlungcancer.eu
Israel Lung Cancer Foundation
www.ilcf.org.il
Landesverband Baden- Württemberg für Lungenkrebskranke und deren Angehörige e.V
www.lungenkrebs-bw.de
Longkanker Nederland
www.longkankernederland.nl
Lungencancerförbundest Stödet
www.stodet.se
Lungekreftforeningen
www.lungekreftforeningen.no
National Lung Cancer Forum for Nurses (NLCFN)
www.nlcfn.org.uk
Patientforeningen Lungekræft
www.lungekraeft.com
Pulmonale
www.pulmonale.pt
52
Associate members
LuCE associate members are organisations committed to improve the lives of lung cancer patients. LuCE wishes to thank these
organizations for their continuous support.
If you are interested in joining LuCE, please contact us. We will be pleased to meet you!
Društvo onkoloških bolnikov Slovenije
www.onkologija.org
European School of Oncology (ESO)
www.eso.net
European Thoracic Oncology Platform (ETOP)
www.etop-eu.org
Fundación MÁS QUE IDEAS
www.fundacionmasqueideas.org
We would like to thank Amgem, Boehringer Ingelheim, Lilly, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, MSD and Roche for
the great support they offer LuCE. We are very grateful for the interest they have always shown in our organisation. We
hope we will continue working with them, as we encourage all individuals and organisations to join us in the endeavour
of representing lung cancer patients across Europe.
We are indebted to Tom Simpson for his generosity in sharing with us a small (but very important) piece of his life, and to
Giorgio Scagliotti for his call to action to all stakeholders.
We would like to thank MÁS QUE IDEAS Foundation for their key role in elaborating this report.
DIFFICULT ROADS OFTEN LEAD TO BEAUTIFUL DESTINATIONS
LET´S DO THE WALK TOGETHER!
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